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October 11, 2013

I Don’t Like the Candidates put up for my Constituency, Would There be an option of NOTA on my Voting Machine?

You are a legitimate voter if:-

1) You have filled all the required election card forms for the Election Identity Card through Online or offline means.

2) Registered yourself into the voter list of your constituency.

3) Submitted all the required documents and got through the voter id verification by the Booth level officer.

4) Remained patient in order to let the concerned authorities assess your application.

5) Finally received your Election Card and checked your name in the electoral roll of your constituency.

So, now that you have a valid identity document and your name in the election identity card, there is only one thing you have to do till the time elections approach. That one thing is that you just have to make up your mind about the vote you are going cast during the coming elections. And that vote will reflect the choice of the candidate you would like to form a part of the governing body of your constituency. To make up your mind you must constantly interact and attend all the events organized by the various political parties who would be nominating candidates for your area.

Since you have taken some pain for the registration into the electoral roll and issuing of the election identity card, you must make sure that while voting you make a wise and a perfect choice. Every single vote that is cast during the elections has its own importance and hence every voter must precede it with a well structured thinking process.

Problem with the candidates who are nominated to contest.

Whereas the political parties who nominate candidates often are prone to making half-hearted decisions about these nominations which often influenced by the power and the wealth of certain people who wish to contest elections. In such case all your efforts for voter list registration and issuing of Election identity card could go in vain, because of the fact that such nominations are very rarely in the best interest of the citizens.

Nominations that are influenced by money and power have a tendency to make election unfair, so if the voters have no choice but to elect any one candidate out of the nominated one, that would leave them unsatisfied with the whole electoral process.

What if the EVM(Electronic Voting Machine) has another option for the voters? And what if that option is to let the voters reject all the candidates nominated to contest elections? Would not that solve the big problems of our democracy?

The answer could be Yes. If the political parties know that the voters have the power to reject candidates nominated by them, it could help the constituencies to get a choice of candidates that have a competitive edge instead of power and wealth. Such nominations could justify your efforts you did for your election identity card and your name in the Voter list.

What is being done by the authorities about this?

Well the Election Commission is well aware of the fact that the power to the voters for rejection of candidates not only would enable us to move to better democracy but also justify the freedom of expression for the citizens. So the next time you enter the polling booth by the support of your voter id card and your name in the voter list, you should not be surprised to see an option of NOTA(None of The Above) on the Electronic Voting Machine.

Following the judgement from the Supreme court due to repeated recommendations from NGO’s that support freedom of expression for the citizens, there would soon be an option to reject all the candidates that have been put up for contesting the elections. This power has various implication and positive aspects that people across different regions and mindsets have been discussing.

So if you do not like the ideology of the nominated candidates and the rigid selection process, you would soon be able to reject them by clicking the button next to NOTA. Would that be a boon for our democracy or bane, that is for you the to decide.

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